Evraz Place discusses Farm Progress Show, readying for field hospital

The president and CEO of the Regina Exhibition Association Limited predicts the COVID-19 pandemic will cost the organization about 85 per cent of its revenues over the next few months.

Speaking on the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday, Tim Reid said events that would have been booked at Evraz Place are being rescheduled. But if that isn’t possible, then refunds are in order to promoters, who in turn need to pay back the ticket holders.

“You see your bank account go down even faster because your revenues turn off but you’re also refunding these massive amounts of tickets you normally have available for use,” Reid said.

The Farm Progress Show is the next big event on the schedule about which decisions need to be made.

Reid said an advisory group was to meet Monday to discuss “what may happen there and what may not.”

“It remains such a fluid situation that’s a bit of a guessing game. We want to make sure we do everything in the best interests of public health and public safety,” he said.

A course of action is expected this week.

Once the pandemic is over, Reid is convinced the crowds will return. He has seen plenty of consumer data that says people are missing the ability to meet up, as emergency restrictions on mass gatherings remain in place.

“Once we get the chance to turn our business back on, people are going to come back. I think those moments and those experiences and those memories that we build when we’re together are probably what we’re still hanging on to in these challenging times,” he said.

“We’re optimistic that (from) everything we see, we want to get back to coming together as communities and having a few good reasons to celebrate together.”

For now, Evraz Place has a role in the provincial response. The complex would be the site of a field hospital, with 400 intensive care beds.

Reid said officials are currently working with designers, architects and the Saskatchewan Health Authority, preparing the International Trade Centre and other parts of the site.

“We want to give them a ton of credit for being as progressive and forward-thinking as they can and hopefully we never need to use it,” Reid said.